BRECON'S Oxjam team have busked for charity at the top of Pen y Fan. The session on the highest peak in South Wales and southern Britain bemused weekend walkers on Sunday, August 28 who took photos and donated to Oxjam for the privilege.

Nigel Evans reports:

MY knowledge of busking is minimal. However, I like to think I have a firm grasp of the basics. Take an acoustic guitar and sing 'Streets Of London' or possibly 'Hotel California' while standing in a well populated thoroughfare with a good footfall of shoppers with spare change burning a hole in their pockets.

  It's odd then that the Oxjam Brecon fundraising team have decided to busk for the Oxfam charity at the top of the highest peak in South Wales and southern Britain. Then the penny drops: This isn't just a conventional busk at all - it's a carefully orchestrated publicity stunt.

  A quick whizz around the internet shows me Oxjam teams busking all over the UK - in Birmingham Bullring Shopping Centre, in Cardiff's Queen Street, outside Brighton train station.

All worthy and proactive events but the organisers of Oxjam Brecon have higher ideas. We meet at the Storey Arms car park, outside Brecon on a blustery Sunday morning (August 28) with guitars in black bin liners and bongos at the ready.

  Two hours later and at 886 metres (2907 feet) above sea level, I find myself busking alongside percussionists Aiden Tolman and Chris Edwards. I have sympathy now for the athletes who compete at altitude and have to adjust their training to cope with the thinner air.

  Unfortunately, I've put zero training in for this event and the higher notes come out as gasps. It doesn't seem to affect anyone else though and we hear from Juey, The Happy Boys Brecon Bongo Band, Glen Ellis performing 'Pinball Wizard', and The Vandalists playing 'The Walk'.

  It's all to the bemusement and amusement of the 20 or 30 weekend walkers who cannot resist the photo and video opportunity. Coincidentally, the performances are also video'd by Oxjam Brecon's Takeover manager Stewart Webb and the clips find their way onto Oxjam's Facebook page and YouTube a matter of hours later.

  It's guerilla situationist thinking like this that made Oxjam Brecon the second highest fundraising team in the UK last year.

Oxjam's Stewart Webb tells The Brecon & Radnor Express: "We chose to busk on Pen y Fan quite simply because it is there (or very close by). As well as the sponsorship we also collected about £80 from the busk - which is pretty good for an hour long busk.

  "With sponsorship money the busk will raise about £1,000, possibly a little bit more. £50 will buy a breeding pair of goats which will provide a family in an under developed country with sustainable sustenance.

The busk (just a few hours of our time) could pay for 20 pairs."

  Oxjam Brecon's Takeover takes place in a number of venues on Saturday, October 15. All the bands taking part will play for free and it's organised by volunteers who know and love their local music scene, raising money to save lives around the world. Oxjam Brecon is looking for volunteers.

  For more information about getting involved, email [email protected]">[email protected] or call 07932 044987 or go to http://www.oxjambrecon.com">www.oxjambrecon.com.